Friday, November 9, 2012

Hope Unseen

Title:Hope Unseen

Author: Capt. Scotty Smileyhttp://www.hopeunseen.com/

Pages: 256

Year: 2012

Publisher: Howard Books

How
many biographies have you read?Have you
ever read any autobiographies?Hope Unseenis a very inspiring life story
about “The U.S. Army’s First Blind Active-Duty Officer.”Many times throughout our lives we may have
planned, prepared for and achieved our goals that were at one time a dream.Now, coming through the other side of such
adversity, Captain Scotty shares his life and the lives of his family with
readers.

Born
into a godly family and one of seven kids, Scotty shares his past growing up in
a large family.Scotty shares who
influenced his life and who kept going when all want to sideline him out of
life now that he is blind.The book is
written with a transparent heart that has gone through various trials and still
continues to as he lives each day not being able to see.

The
moment I opened this book, I was hooked.I had never heard of this courageous man or his family.It never occurred to me that someone who was
blind could remain in the service of his country or would even want to.I am sure that while each person who serves
our nation wants to stay in the service after being injured, this man’s faith shines
through despite his injury.The faith
instilled in him since his youth is tested, tried, and deepened through
adversity.Character is forged through
the fire of losing sight forever here on earth, with an uncertain future.

In
the book, we are reminded the influence parents have in forging the faith of
their children.Though we can’t see how
certain personality traits might come into play in the adult life of our kids,
reading Hope Unseen helps us catch the “vision” for those entrusted to
us by God.While we might not be thanked
by our children or other children we influence while they are young, in the
future you might see what becomes of what is planted in the life you nurture.

All
of us have a part to play in God’s plan for the present and the future, both in
the lives of those we know now and others we have yet to meet.Being a parent myself of two boys, who are
now young men, I know the ups and downs of parenting and the hopes and
desires.I know how the choices I make
today as well as those of my husband with our sons have yet to culminate to
their ultimate fulfillment.One thing I
do know is very important, whether you have children or not, we all can
influence the current and future generations.We can all pray for them. Some we
can pray for by name, others we can pray for generally, trusting God because He
knows each one.We can encourage parents
as they raise their kids to follow the Lord and live lives sold out for Him.

The
other encouragement we can give is to be in the Word daily as individuals,
families and as the Body of Christ.Daily devotions, reading the Word, studying the Word, and memorizing the
Word will equip each generation to battle not just the battles in their lives,
but also in the lives of others as well.When you read Captain Scotty’s testimony, you will learn the verse that
is inscribed under his military ring to remind him of his dependence on God,
and God alone.What verse or verses have
you memorized?If you had to pick a single
verse or multiple verses, what would they be?

Why we do what we do

When this blog began it was during a time of raising my sons and care taking for ailing inlaws. Before those seasons ended this blog morphed into writing reviews and interviewing authors. With the constant change in the Christian publishing industry and our society, our purpose expanded.

With my girlfriend coming alongside, we review all sorts of novels, hunting for sound stories. While there are a couple genres we will not review for several reasons, we remain open to looking into new opportunities to read and share about good books!

In all of what we do we aim to bring glory to God and Christ Jesus in the ministry of blogging which we believe He has blessed us to do. We are always amazed that we get to wake up and do something with such profound joy each and everyday.

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